Volume 2 4 / N u m b e r 12/December 1992
Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume24, No. 12, pp. 607-614, 1992.
Printed in Great Britain.
The West Falmouth Oil Spill After
20 Years: Fate of Fuel Oil Compounds
and Effects on Animals
J. M. TEAL*, J. W. FARRINGTON*, K. A. BURNSt, J. J. STEGEMAN*, B. W. TRIPP*, B. WOODIN* and
C. PHINNEY~§
* Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, ]VIA 02543, USA
t Bermuda Biological Station for Research, 17 Biological Station Lane, Bermuda GEO1
Environmental Sciences Program, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Habor Campus, Boston, MA 02125, USA
§Current Address: US Geological Survey, Reston, VA 22092, USA.
The barge F/or/da spilled No. 2 fuel oil into Buzzards
Bay, Massachusetts on 29 September 1969. Sediments
from five of the original stations were sampled in August
1989 and analysed for fuel oil hydrocarbons. Two
subtidai and one intertidal marsh station showed no
evidence of fuel oil. One subtidal mud core had traces
of biodegraded fuel oil at 10-15 cm. One marsh core
contained 10 -6 g g-t dry wt of weathered and bio-
degraded fuel oil aromatic hydrocarbons and cycio-
alkanes at 5-10 cm with lesser concentrations at 0-5
and 10-15 cm. Although present in trace concentra-
tions, these hydrocarbons appear to be slightly
inducing cytochrome P4501A in marsh fish (Fundulus
heteroclitus ).
The long-term fate of spilled oil compounds in
aquatic ecosystems is discussed following each major
spill (NRC, 1985, 1989; Clark, 1982; Jackson et al.,
1989; Milke, 1990; NOAA, 1988), partly because there
are few long term studies of several years duration of
the fate and effects of spilled oil. The 650-700 t of No.
2 fuel oil spilled by the barge Florida in the West
Falmouth area of Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts in
September of 1969 (Blumer & Sass, 1972; Sanders et
al., 1980; Krebs & Burns, 1977; Burns & Teal, 1979)
have been the subject of some of the more in depth
studies of oil spills (NRC, 1985). Two and three ring
aromatic compounds persisted in intertidal marsh
sediments at a heavily oiled location 6 yr after the spill
(Teal et al., 1978). Because of renewed interest in long
term effects of oil spills generated by the many severe
spills occurring in 1989, e.g. with the Exxon Valdez spill
in Prince William Sound, Alaska (Trustee Council,
1989), we resampled our previous study sites in West
Falmouth in August, 1989, 20 yr after the spill.
In the Wild Harbor (WH) region we sampled
sediments and organisms from an intertidal marsh and
a subtidal site that in 1969 were amongst the most
0025-326X/92 $5.00+0.00
© 1992PergamonPressLtd
heavily oiled and another set of sites that had been
moderately oiled. At the heavily oiled intertidal site, a
rainbow sheen that appeared on the surface of the
water, and a No. 2 fuel oil odour suggested the
continued presence of oil in the marsh. We also took
samples from the original reference sites: 1. a salt marsh
unoiled in the 1969 spill about 3 km to the south of
Wild Harbor (Little Sippewissett Salt Marsh (SM)), and
2. an unoiled subtidal station 2.5 km to the west in
Buzzards Bay (Fig. 1). None of the oiled or reference
sites has been directly impacted by spilled oil in the
intervening years, although there have been spills of fuel
oil elsewhere in Buzzards Bay since 1969. The uplands
adjacent to these sites are low density residential areas.
In addition to hydrocarbons we analysed the content of
cytochrome P4501A and its activity. Monooxygenase
activities were previously found to be elevated in fish
from the oiled sites (Burns, 1976; Stegeman, 1978).
Core B-7
~ Wild Harbor
~ . ~ Core
30 L r ~ M-,
~
Core Sections
o-sc~ Wild Harbor and
5-10 cm Buzzards Bay
10-15 cm
15-20cm Sampling Stations
20-25 cm
Fig. 1 Bathymetric chart of the Buzzards Bay shoreline showing
sampling stations and sections of subtidal and marsh cores
analysed for hydrocarbons. The numbers by the dots are those
used in earlier studies (e.g. Sanders et al., 1980).
607

Methods
Sediment sampling and analytical procedures were
similar to those we used previously and are described in
more detail elsewhere (Burns & Teal, 1979; Teal et al.,
1978; Farrington et al., 1977; Farrington & Tripp,
1975; Farfington et al., 1982). Briefly, we obtained one
core from each site by manually inserting a core liner
into the sediment and removing a 9 cm diameter by
30 cm deep sediment core. Cores were wrapped in
washed foil, frozen and stored until analysis. Frozen
cores were cut into 5 cm sections and portions for
chemical analysis were subsampled from various core
sections. The measured depth does not account for the
approximately one-third compression of the sample
during penetration of the corer into the sediment.
Individual sediment sub-samples were Soxhlet ex-
tracted with 1 : 1 methanol: toluene for 1 day followed
by two separate extractions with 1 : 3 methanol: toluene
for 1 day each. The combined sulphur-free extracts
were partitioned into saturated hydrocarbons (fraction-
1) and aromatic hydrocarbons (fraction-2) using silica
gel column chromatography. Each fraction from column
chromatography was analysed by flame ionization gas
chromatography, using a J&W fused silica capillary
column (0.32 mm i.d., by 30 m) coated with Durabond
D-5 (0.25 ~tm) and programming from a 70 ° injection
temperature to 250 ° at 3 ° mn-~ followed by more rapid
programming to a final temperature of 320°C. Indi-
vidual aromatic hydrocarbons were quantified using
GC/MS following procedures similar to those described
in Teal et al. (1978) and Farrington et al. (1982).
Animals were collected in the immediate vicinity of
the contaminated intertidal marsh site or in the tidal
creek about 1 m away. Reference animals were
collected from the reference marsh. Fiddler crabs, Uca
pugnax, and marsh mussels, Geukensia demissa were
hand picked from the sediment surface. Marsh min-
nows, Fundulus heteroclitus were collected with
minnow traps and softshell clams, Mya arenaria were
dug from the stream bottom. Hydrocarbon analyses
were done on one composite sample of each species
composed of 6-12 individuals. Hydrocarbon analysis
began with Soxhlet extraction with methanol using
added KOH to saponify lipids. Internal standards were
added to evaluate recovery in both sediment and animal
samples. After partitioning into hexane, hydrocarbon
fractions were separated on silica/alumina columns
using hexane to elute saturated compounds, followed
by 10% ether in hexane, and by 20% methylene
chloride in hexane. The latter two fractions were
combined for the aromatic compounds. The fractions
were analysed by gas chromatography. The aromatic
fraction of the animal extracts was also analysed by
ultraviolet fluorescence (UVF) using marine diesel to
produce a standard response curve. Selected aromatic
fractions were further cleaned by normal phase high
performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the
reconcentrated aromatic fraction analysed for indi-
viduai aromatics by GC/MS. Methods for tissue
analysis are described in detail in IOC/UNESCO/
UNEP (1991).
608
Marine Pollution Bulletin
Samples of Fundulus liver from fish killed immedi-
ately after collection, and from WH fish held for various
periods in a clean water laboratory, were analysed for
cytochrome P4501A (see Stegeman, 1992 for nomen-
clature) concentration and activity. Livers were homo-
genized in ice cold 0.05 M Tris/0.15 M KCI,
microsomal fractions prepared by centrifugation and
resuspended in Tris buffer with 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM
dithiothreitol, and 20% glycerol (Stegeman et al., 1979).
Western immunoblotting was carried out as before
(Kloepper-Sams et al., 1987). Microsomal proteins were
resolved on polyacrylamide gels and electrophoretically
transferred to nitrocellulose. Monoclonal antibody
1-12-3 (Park et al., 1986) was the primary antibody
used, the secondary a goat anti-mouse IgG linked to
alkaline phosphatase (Bio-Rad). Staining was done with
NBT and BCIP. Purified scup P450E (P4501A1) was
used as the standard. The amount of stain was
quantified by densitometry (Master Scan, Scanalytics/
CSPI, Billerica, MA).
Hepatic microsomal ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase
(EROD) activity was measured spectrophotometrically
as the appearance of resorufin at 572 nm using an
extinction coefficient of 73 mM -1 cm -1 (Klotz et al.,
1984). Protein content was measured by the method of
Smith etal. (1985).
Results
Sediments
The presence of No. 2 fuel oil hydrocarbons in
sediments from the oiled sites is indicated by three
types of evidence as compared to samples from control
sites: 1. elevated concentrations of alkanes, cyclo-
alkanes, and aromatic hydrocarbons in the molecular
weight range for No. 2 fuel oil; 2. composition differ-
ences in the alkane and cycloalkane fractions indicating
the presence of the very complex mixture of fuel oil
compounds in comparison to the less complicated
mixture of biogenic hydrocarbons and biogenic de-
gradation products; and 3. compositional differences in
aromatic hydrocarbons in the fuel oil molecular weight
range consistent with No. 2 fuel oil aromatic hydro-
carbon compositions.
The 0-5, 5-10, and 10-15 cm core sections from
WH Marsh station M-1 contained aromatic hydro-
carbons from No. 2 fuel oil not found in the M-1 15-20
cm section or in control sediments from the nearby
Sippewissett marsh (Table 1). The greater relative
abundances of the substituted phenanthrenes (C~-, C2- ,
and C3-) compared to the unsubstituted phenanthrene,
fluoranthene, and pyrene in marsh core M-1 sections
(Fig. 2a, coupled with the quantitative data of Table 1)
indicate the presence of aromatic hydrocarbons from
No. 2 fuel oil. In the deeper section of core M-1 (15-20
cm) the relative abundance of phenanthrene, fluor-
anthene, pyrene, benz(a)anthracene and benz(a)pyrene
dominates the substituted C~-, C2-, and C3-phen-
anthrenes and is indicative of pyrogenic origin of the
aromatic compounds from combustion of fossil fuels,
grass and forest fires, and perhaps creosote (NRC 1983,
1985; Wade & Quinn, 1980). The composition of
Volume 24/Number 12/December 1992

CORE M 1A - MARSH
Y. m/z 178, 192, 202, 206, 220
loo- O-Sere F! PY

C2Ph

I
E Ph C3Ph
E ~?
t~

"7~ 100- 5 .lOom

e-,

,,.

.~,

101). 10 - 15¢m

~D
, , . , ,

E
~J 1 0 0 15 - 20era
e~

e~
I

C.--
SC~' 1000 1200 1400 161)0 1800 21)00
Time 16:40 20:00 23:20 26:40 30:00 33:20
Fig. 2a Mass chromatograms (Zm/z 178, 192, 202, 206, 220) of
aromatic hydrocarbons in core sections of marsh sediment
samples, August, 1989 Wild Harbor Marsh•

aromatic hydrocarbons found in the bottom of core

M-1 is typical of the composition found at the
Sippewissett Marsh reference station. The surface 0-5
cm of previously lightly oiled marsh station (M-4)
showed no indication of fuel oil hydrocarbons
-H- ¢,O'~
._~ remaining. The mass chromatogram is essentially the
same as for the deep core section (15-20 cm) of station
M-1.
~ The compositions of the alkanes and cycloalkanes
..~,
-~ ~ for sections of core M-1 (Fig. 2b) are consistent with
="d ~ the aromatic hydrocarbon mass spectral data. The
~ resolved peaks at the high-molecular weight end of the
e-
gas chromatograms are n-alkanes of 25-31 carbon
_~ chain length dominated by odd carbon chain lengths,
~__ typical of plant waxes from marsh vegetation. The
cluster of peaks with retention times of 48-55 min is

609

Wild Harbor Marsh Sediments
(SIQ. M-'I)
O-Scm
U_l
"15-20cm ~~L
a I . . . .
o ~b 2b 3b 4b 5b 6'o 70
Fig. 2b High resolution gas chromatograms of alkanes and cyclo-
alkanes in the same core sections shown in Fig. 2a.
biosynthetic or early diagenetic alkanes and alkenes
found elsewhere in uncontaminated sediments (NRC,
1985; Blumer & Sass, 1972; Burns & Teal, 1979;
Farrington et al., 1977; Farrington & Tripp, 1975). The
unresolved complex mixture of alkanes/cycloalkanes
(the 'hump' in the chromatograms) characteristic of
biodegraded and weathered fuel oil (NRC, 1983;
Youngblood & Blumer, 1975), is most pronounced in
the 5-10 cm section and less pronounced or undetected
in the other sections. Alkane and cycloalkane composi-
tions and concentrations in the surface samples at
station M-4 and the control station are the same as for
the deepest section of core M-1 and show no fuel oil
contamination.
Data for the aromatic hydrocarbons and alkanes/
cycloalkanes from this study are consistent with what
has been reported for No. 2 fuel oil weathering and
biodegradation over shorter time intervals of 1 month
to 6 yr for spilled oil in marsh sediments (NRC, 1985;
Blumer & Sass, 1972; Burns & Teal, 1979), and also
for chronic introduction of water soluble fractions of
No. 2 fuel oil into mesocosms (Wade & Quinn, 1980;
Gearing & Gearing, 1982). The C2-, and C3-phen-
anthrenes and the cycloalkanes are the compounds that
survived the longest in sediments in those studies.
The gas chromatograms of fractions containing the
alkanes/cycloalkanes, and the aromatic hydrocarbons,
610
Marine Pollution Bulletin
and the mass chromatograms for duplicate subsamples
of two core sections analysed in this study (M-l, 10-15
cm and B-7, 10-15 cm; not shown), show virtually
identical patterns when superimposed. Such similar
patterns have consistently been observed in our
laboratory and elsewhere (Teal et al., 1978; Gearing
& Gearing, 1982). Thus, the differences noted for
composition among the 0-5, 5-10 and 10-15 cm core
sections in marsh core M-1 are real. Differences in
oil concentrations in the replicate analyses can be
attributed to sample heterogeneity due to roots and
large pieces of marsh detritus. While hydrocarbon
concentrations are different for sample replicates, the
relative abundance of compounds (normalized to
benz(a)pyrene) (not shown but easily calculated from
Table 1) shows close agreement for the aromatic hydro-
carbons measured.
Observed differences in concentrations and com-
position between core sections in M-1 indicate spatial
heterogeneities in the original oiling of the marsh
followed by differential water washing of the oil sorbed
to marsh sediments caused by tidal pumping of water;
water washing and mixing by storm events; and
microbial degradation. Active redistribution processes
were probably continuing in the marsh at the time of
our sampling. The greater relative abundance of
phenanthrene and Cl-phenanthrene relative to the C z-
and C3-phenanthrenes in the 0-5 cm and 10-15 cm
depth intervals in M-1 compared to the 5-10 cm depth
interval; and the higher concentrations for the 5-10 cm
interval for the phenanthrenes and other fuel oil
compounds suggests that the 5-10 cm interval may be a
continuing source for fuel oil compounds diffusing and/
or advecting to the other depth intervals via the inter-
stitial water in the marsh. The hole from which core
M-1 was retrieved filled to the top with water within
minutes of our sampling at low tide.
The aromatic hydrocarbon data for the marsh core
M-1 are consistent with our earlier data for this marsh
area taken between January 1971 and July 1976 and
compared to the original fuel oil aromatic hydrocarbon
composition. The original fuel oil aromatic hydro-
carbon composition was dominated by naphthalene,
CI-, C2- and C3-naphthalenes. There was a loss of the
naphthalene and much of the methyl naphthalenes and
C2-naphthalenes relative to the phenanthrenes by
January of 1971. By November of 1973 C2-naph-
thalenes were only barely detectable relative to the
phenanthrenes and by July of 1976 C2-, and C 3-
phenanthrenes predominated over the naphthalenes,
including the C4-naphthalenes. The surface marsh muds
in 1989 have somewhat higher concentrations of C3-
naphthalenes relative to the C2-, and C3-naphthalenes
compared to the July 1976 data (Teal et al., 1978). We
do not know whether this is due to spatial heterogeneity
for oil distributed in this marsh area or if this is due to
remobilization of fuel oil to the surface from deeper in
the sediment.
Both alkane/cycloalkane data and aromatic hydro-
carbon data for subtidal surface sediment samples for
the Buzzards Bay stations B-1 (control station), B-5,
and B-7 indicate only biogenic and early diagenetic
Volume 24/Number 12/December 1992

alkanes and alkenes, and pyrogenic source aromatic

hydrocarbons. Trace amounts of alkanes/cycloalkanes
from a weathered and biodegraded No. 2 fuel oil
.4
indicated by the unresolved complex mixture in the gas
chromatogram are present in the 10-15 cm section of e,q

the core at B-7. We found no such trace in the 5-10 cm

section. ~3 (0
e,q e,q
Organisms
The crabs, which burrow into the sediments and feed
on detritus, mud and algae on the sediment surface, I d ,i, 3
showed the greatest indication of contamination by oil
on the basis of GC analysis (Table 2). Figure 3 shows
P,,.
the small unresolved complex mixture (UCM) in the ¢,q
~3
WH animals compared with the SM animals which
lacked a UCM. There was only a trace of oil in the WH (3
crabs as indicated by the clearly detectable biogenic
plant waxes despite the petroleum residues indicated by
the UCM.
The other samples of marsh organisms showed no
consistent difference in hydrocarbon content between
animals from the oiled an unoiled marshes by GC
URE
analyses. All were contaminated with traces of oil with
no differences in UCM patterns. The UVF patterns, Fig. 3 Gas chromatograms of saturated hydrocarbon fractions of
which are also sensitive to hydrocarbon oxidation extracts of fiddler crabs, Uca pugnax. Top: Sippewissett
reference marsh. Bottom: West Falmouth marsh oiled in 1969.
products, showed a slight shift in the emission maxima Labeled peaks are the n-alkanes and isoprenoids typical of
in extracts of crabs and mussels from the oiled marsh as biogenic input from benthic algae (C 15, C 17) and marsh grasses
well as a slightly higher signal (Fig. 4). Although not (C23-C31). URE (UCM) is the unresolved signal due to
residual petroleum hydrocarbons in the fuel oil elution range.
large, this increase in emission between 335 and 360
nm on the synchronous scan is consistent with a slightly
increased content of 3-5 ringed PAH series and/or fuel
oil oxidation products. The C2- and C3-phenanthrenes
were the most persistent of the fuel oil aromatic hydro-
carbons remaining in the sediments. The GC/MS

1
analyses of the crabs from both WH and SM contained
traces of PAHs (Table 3). The reference animals
contained mostly low molecular weight naphthalenes,
while the WH crabs contained traces of the higher -'~ ~'--A~.- 5 nm
molecular weight compounds including chrysene. Such
a difference in composition could also account for the
slight difference in the UVF spectra.
The mussels from both sites would be classified as
relatively clean by coastal monitoring criteria (Burns &
Smith, 1981, 1982; Farrington et al., 1983). The back-
ground contamination appears to be a combination of i I i I i I i I ' I t I i
o
light fuel from boating traffic and PAHs from deposi-
tion of airborne combustion products. -'~ t"-A ~.- 5 nm
The concentration of saturated hydrocarbons in the
Fundulus was very low, as it was in 1975 (Burns & Teal,
1979). There was a slight indication of contamination

TABLE 2
Petroleum hydrocarbon content of animals measured by the size of the
unresolved envelope (UCM) shown on the GC of the fraction
containing the saturated compounds and the ultra-violet fluorescence
of the fractions containing the aromatic compounds (UVF).
' I ' I ' I t I ' I ' I
UCM pgg-~ dry wt UVF ~tgg-t drywt
Genus Oiled Reference Oiled Reference

Uca 1.4 0.3 0.9 0.5 Fig. 4 Synchronous excitation/emission ultra-violet fluorescence
Fundulus 3.6 2.2 43.8 13.5 spectra of extracts from the crabs (top) and mussels (bottom).
Geukensia 8.0 15.2 27.9 19.6 W. Fal. is the oiled marsh, Sipp. is the reference marsh, blank is
Mya 8.6 7.7 31.0 20.8 the complete analytical blank. Note slight differences in the
wavelength of emission maxima.

611
 Marine Pollution Bulletin

TABLE 3 1.2
Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in selected samples based on SIM
GC/MS. Units are ng g-1 dry wt. 1.0

Uca Geukensia 0.8

Compound m/z Sipp. W. Harb. Sipp. W. Harb.
0.6
Naphthalene* 128 0.27 0.07 78.58 90.57
2-Me naphthalene* 142 0.47 0.07 52.00 65.96 0.4
1-Me naphthalene* 142 0.25 63.09 74.97 c~
C2-Naphthalene 156 0.78 43.07 68.27 0.2
C3-Naphthalene 170 0.93 7.96 23.57 trJ
C4-Naphthalene 184 8.61 52.42 0.0
Fluorene* 166 0.09 2.47 4.89
C rFluorene 180 1.66
ESL (control)Little Sippiwissett Wild Harbor
Dibenzothiophene* 184 0.40 0.29 1.13 3.04
C~-Dibenzothiophene 198 0.20 0.01 0.44 1.18 0.09'
C2-Dibenzothiophene 212 3.00 0.08'
C3-Dibenzothiophene 226 1.39
0.07'
Phenanthrene/anthrac* 178 0.54 0.38 10.10 30.61
C t-Phenanthrene 192 0.28 0.30 11.25 11.35 0.06'
Cz-Phenanthrene 206 9.96 <

ii/I
0.05'
Fluoranthene* 202 0.16 3.19 7.66
Pyrene* 202 2.98 7.61 0.04'
Ct-Pyrene/fluoranth 216 5.25 0.03"
Benzanthracene 228 1.35 5.84
Chrysene* 228 0.87 4.67 5.86
0.02-"
Benzo(a)pyrene* 252 0.07 0.22 0.01 -
Perylene* 252 0.27 0.31 0.00
Sum of PAHs 4.12 2.51 302.89 463.66 ESL(control)LittleSippiwissettWildHarbor
*Means compound in calibration mixture so that response factors
are calculated directly. Response factors for others are interpolated as
per UNESCO, 1991.
m/z is the ion used for quantification. )) ~ F.em~le
m~,~

with aromatic compounds in the UVF data. Since

~ 0.8

microsomal cytochrome P4501A in these fish can be

induced by hydrocarbons (Kloepper-Sams et al., 1987),
we examined the amount of this enzyme in Fundulus.
P4501A activity measured as EROD activity was
elevated in the WH fish as compared with the SM
reference fish but the latter showed elevated EROD
activity compared with other, untreated F. heteroclitus
held under conditions that reduce the background of
induction (Kloepper-Sams & Stegeman, 1989) (Fig. 5).
The same general picture was shown by the amount of
P4501A detected by immunoblot analysis. The differ-
ences between WH and SM fish are only marginally
significant, and not very large. The origin of the
apparently elevated EROD or P4501A in the reference
fish is unknown, but could include effects of natural or
anthropogenic compounds. Natural products might also
be acting in WH.
To test that the levels of P4501A in WH Fundulus
represented induction and not, for example, a genetic
difference in P4501A expression, we held fish in clean
water and measured EROD activity. Values starting at 1
nmol min-1 mg -1 had fallen to 0.3 after 2 weeks and to
about 0.1 by 13 weeks, indicating that the initial activity
was not a fixed character and represented recent
induction.
Discussion
Of the three subtidal stations from the original oiled
areas, only one station shows a trace concentration of
weathered and biodegraded No. 2 fuel oil 20 yr after
the spill. At all of these sites, stirring and flushing of
0"6l
~ .~ o.o
0.2 4.25
time in dean water (mo)
Fig. 5 Top-EROD (ethoxy resorufin O-deethylase) activity in
Fundulus heteroclitus from the oiled Wild Harbor marsh, a
reference marsh in Buzzards Bay, Little Sippewissett, and fish
held under clean conditions at ESL. Middle-concentrations of
P4501A in the same fish. Bottom--the time course of decrease
in EROD activity in fish held in clean water.
sediments by physical and biological processes exposed
the adsorbed oil to both physical removal and to oxygen
which stimulated degradation. One of the intertidal
marsh stations had no detectable concentrations of fuel
oil. In contrast, the other marsh station contained
substantial concentrations of No. 2 fuel oil to a depth of
15 cm. The available knowledge of the fate of spilled oil
(e.g. Blumer & Sass, 1972) suggests that heavy oiling of
this area early in the spill, the high organic content of
the marsh sediments promoting sorption of the oil
compounds, the low energy nature of the marsh
environment, and generally zero oxygen content of the
marsh sediment below the surface all act to retard the
removal of the oil by physical means of water washing
and flushing, and by microbial degradation.
The composition of hydrocarbons we found in
several marsh species is consistent with some fuel oil
contamination. However, these hydrocarbons were all

612
Volume 24/Number 12/December 1992

at very low levels in all cases, levels that would not Blumer, M. & Sass, J. (1972). Oil pollution: persistence and degrada-
tion of spilled fuel oil. Science 176, 1120-1122.
ordinarily be considered to indicate significant expo- Burns, K. A. (1976). Microsomal mixed function oxidases in an
sure and cannot be unambiguously attributed to estuarine fish, Fundulus heteroclitus, and their inducation as a result
weathered, and degraded No. 2 fuel oil. The only of environmental contamination. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 53B,
443-446.
conclusion we can confidently make is that animals Burns, K. A. & Teal, J. M. (1979). The West Falmouth oil spill:
today are coming into contact with small amounts of oil hydrocarbons in the salt marsh ecosystem. Estuar. Coast. Mar. Sci. g,
from the sediments contaminated 20 yr ago. However, 349-360.
Burns, K. A. & Smith, J. L. (1981). Biological monitoring of ambient
even these low levels may be responsible for the slightly water quality: the case for using bivalves as sentinel organisms for
greater content of P4501A in the WH fish. monitoring petroleum pollution in coastal waters. Estuar. Coast.
Where does all this leave us with respect to impact ShelfSci. 13,433-443.
Burns, K. A. & Smith, J. L. (1982). Hydrocarbons in Victorian coastal
assessment? There is still some oil present in marsh ecosystems: Chronic petroleum inputs to Wesernport and Port Philip
sediments to a depth of 15 cm, persisting 20 yr after the Bays. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 11, 129-140.
spill at least in an area that was heavily oiled in 1969. It Clark, R. B. (1982). The impact of oil pollution on marine populations,
communities and ecosystems: some questions. Philos. Trans. R. Soc.
is there in relatively high concentrations. On the other London B 297, 185-192.
hand, most of the oil has disappeared during this 20 yr. Farrington, J. W., Frew, N. M., Gschwend, P. M. & Tripp, B. W. (1977).
It is virtually all gone from the subtidal sites and even Hydrocarbons in cores of northwestern Atlantic coastal and
continental marine sediments. Estuar. Coast. Mar. Sci. 5,793-808.
from most of the intertidal marsh muds. Our sampling Farrington, J. W., Tripp, B. W., Teal, J., Mille, G., Tjessem, K., Davis, A.
was very limited but we estimate that less than 1% of C., Livramento, J. B., Hayward, N. A. & Frew, N. M. (1982). Bio-
the marsh oiled 20 yr ago is still significantly con- geochemistry of aromatic hydrocarbons in the benthos of micro-
cosms. Toxicology Environ. Chem. 5,331-346.
taminated. The disappearance of the oil must pre- Farrington, J. W. & Tripp, B. W. (1975). A comparison of analysis
sumably involve movement from the anoxic sediments methods for hydrocarbons in surface sediments. In: Marine
where we now find it, to shallower layers of sediment Chemistry in the Coastal Environment, ACS Symposium Series No.
18 (T. M. Church, ed.), pp. 267-284. ACS, Washington, DC.
and/or into the water, oxic environments where the oil Farrington, J. W., Goldberg, E. D., Risebrough, R. W., Marten, J. H. &
could be degraded. Bowin, V. T. (1983). U.S. "Mussel Watch" 1976-1978: An overview
The marsh is now visually no different from other of the trace metal, DDE, PCB, hydrocarbon and artificial radio-
nuclide data. Environ. Science Tech. 17,490-496.
healthy New England salt marshes as long as the oiled Gearing, P. J. & Gearing, J. N. (1982). Behavior of No. 2 fuel oil in the
area is undisturbed. For the first 5-6 yr after the spill, water column of controlled ecosystems. Mar. Environ. Res. 6, 115-
there was no doubt the oil was adversely affecting the 132.
Hall, C. A. S., Howarth, R., Moore, B. & Vorosarty, C. J. (1978).
marsh ecosystem. Twenty years later, the residual Environmental impacts of industrial energy systems in the coastal
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burrowing into the still contaminated sediments would IOC/UNESCO/UNEP (1991). Determination of petroleum hydro-
carbons in marine sediments. Manual and Guides No. 11 (Rev. 1) (K.
be exposed to oil concentrations that caused significant A. Burns, ed.).
biological effects in the past (Hall et al., 1978). Whether Jackson, J. B. C., Cubit, J. D., Keller, B. D., Batista, V., Burns, K.,
burrowing animals now avoid the oiled area, or are still Caffey, H. M., Caldwell, R. L., Garrity, S. D., Getter, C. D., Gonzalez,
C., Guzman, H. M., Kaufmann, K. W., Knap, A. H., Levings, S. C.
burrowing there and being killed as occurred in the Marshall, M. J., Steger, R., Thompson, R. C. & Weil, E. (1989).
years following the spill (Krebs & Burns, 1977) is Ecological effects of a major oil spill on Panamanian coastal marine
unknown. Such an effect would be most likely to occur communities. Science 243, 37-44.
Kloepper-Sams, P. J., Park, S. S., Gelboin, H. V. & Stegeman, J. J.
with young, overwintering crabs and would be very (1987). Specificity and cross-reactivity of monoclonal and polyclonal
difficult to detect. Given our observations, we conclude antibodies against cytochrome P450E of the marine fish scup. Arch.
that any severe disruption of the marsh sediments in the Biochem. Biophys. 253,268-278.
Kloepper-Sams, P. J. & Stegeman, J. J. (1989). The temporal relation-
area still contaminated could release enough oil to have ships between P450E protein content, catalytic activity, and mRNA
easily observed local effects, the magnitude of which levels in the teleost Fundulus heteroclitus following treatment with
would depend upon the rapidity with which the 13-Naphthoflavone. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 268,525-535.
Klotz, A. V., Stegeman, J. J. & Walsh, C. (1984). An alternative
released oil was dispersed. Two questions remain: 1. For 7-ethoxy-resorufin O-deethylase activity assay: a continuous visible
what period, between 5 and 20 yr, did the release of oil spectrophotometric method for measurement of cytochrome 17-450
from the sediments continue to have significant and monoxygenase activity. Anal. Biochem. 140, 138-145.
Krebs, C. T. & Burns, K. A. (1977). Long term effects of an oil spill on
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years 1988-1992. National Ocean Pollution Program Office, Office
We gratefully acknowledge funding support for this project from the of the Chief Scientist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
Donaldson Charitable Trust through the WHOI Coastal Research tration, US Department of Commerce, Washington, DC.
Center, from the US Dept. of Interior Minerals Management Service NRC (1983). Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Evaluation of
(Contract No. 14-12-0001-30393) and from WHOI Sea Grant. We Sources and Effects. National Academies Press, Washington, DC.
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with the gas chromatographic analyses and Paul Sherbolom and Academies Press, Washington, DC.
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Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume24, No. 12,pp. 614-619, 1992.
Printedin GreatBritain.
Modelling the Movement of Pollutants
in the UK Shelf Seas
A. J. ELLIOT-F*, A. C. DALE* and R. PROCTORt
* Unit for Coastal and Estuarine Studies, Marine Science Laboratories, Menai Bridge, Gwynedd LL59 5EY,, UK
t Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, Bidston, Birkenhead, Merseyside L43 7RA, UK
The EUROSPILL oil and chemical spill model has
been extended to include the transport due to residual
currents in the UK shelf seas. Wind-driven circulation
patterns for the winter and summer have been derived,
and the annual mean (long-term) flow pattern estim-
ated. Current speeds during the winter are typically of
the order of 0.05-0.10 m s -1, the summer values show
a similar spatial pattern but are considerably weaker.
Trajectories over a period of 100 days are presented for
a selection of release points arranged on a regular
latitude/longitude grid. Estimates of patch size after
300 days are given for releases from sites of heavy
shipping and offshore exploration. Use of the method
for accident simulation is demonstrated by considering
the likely spread of Lindane spilled in the English
Channel during March 1989.
The EUROSPILL oil and chemical spill model (Elliott,
1991) simulates the effects of wind-driven and tidal
transports on the movement of a patch of pollutant. The
model was developed to provide predictions over time
scales of hours to days at the time of an accidental
release. Consequently it did not include the influence of
the mean (residual) currents which only become
important over longer time scales. With the inclusion of
the residual flow the model can now be applied to long
time scale problems such as the spread of pesticides and
other long-lived pollutants.
614
Marine Pollution Bulletin
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marine sediments. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 39, 1303-1314.
0025-326X/92$5.00+0.00
© 1992PergamonPressLtd
The residual circulation
The mean wind stress over the UK shelf seas was
derived from estimates of the surface winds at 6 h
intervals for the period 1955-1986 provided by the
Norwegian Meteorological Institute. Wind stress was
computed by a quadratic law using the drag coefficient
formula of Smith & Banke (1975), so that
CD = 0.001 × (0.63 + 0.066 × W),
where W is the wind speed in m s-~.
The wind stress vectors were then averaged during
each month of August and February to produce
climatic estimates of the summer and winter forcing and
interpolated from the 150 km meteorological grid onto
the hydrodynamic model grid. The sea model solved
the depth-integrated shallow water equations on a
spherical polar grid using a grid size of ~ degree of
latitude by ~ degree of longitude. The model included
M2 tidal currents to ensure realistic bottom friction,
and a radiational boundary condition was applied
around the shelf edge. The model was run to quasi-
steady state before the currents were averaged over a
tidal cycle to derive the residual flow. The mean flow
therefore contains contributions both from the non-
linear tidal effects and the wind-forcing. The analysis
was made for August (summer) and February (winter)
winds and a mean annual pattern was computed by
averaging the two seasonal distributions. Dispersion
estimates can be made with the choice of either
summer, winter or annual mean circulation patterns.